HOWTO: Convert VBA to FoxPro for OLE Automation

ID: Q160064

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 3.0, 3.0b, 5.0, 6.0

SUMMARY

In order to perform OLE Automation with an application that uses Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), it is important to understand how to convert the VBA syntax for each command or function into a syntax that may be used in Visual FoxPro. Below is a list of a few of the most common Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) commands that may be used to perform OLE Automation from Visual FoxPro to Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word along with the appropriate syntax for use in Visual FoxPro.

Since this list is very limited, it may be helpful to understand some of the points of converting VBA to FoxPro:

Use parentheses to surround the list of parameters.

Do not use Named parameters. Instead, just pass the value of the parameter in its specified position in the list.

You may use FoxPro variables and fields as parameters just as you would in FoxPro commands, as long as they are of the correct type.

If you are having problems getting a statement or method to work, make

sure that it works as written from within a module of the application (Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word). If it is available, you may also want to try the statement from Visual Basic.

For a description of the methods and statements listed, along with information about the use of specific parameters, please see the respective Visual Basic Reference file for Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel.

MORE INFORMATION

General Notes

Variables and parameters are prefixed by a single character indicating the type of the variable or parameter as follows:

c Character

n Numeric

o Object

l Logical

Some portions of certain commands may be optional. These portions are enclosed by brackets [].

VBA has many built-in constants that may be used. However, FoxPro does not know the values of these constants. To use them in FoxPro, you need to define them as constants in the scope of your FoxPro program or form, or replace them with their appropriate values.

Object Variables

oWord is the variable used to reference Microsoft WordBasic objects, created with the following command:


   oWord = CREATEOBJECT("Word.Basic")

oXL is the variable used to reference Microsoft Excel application objects, created with the following command:


   oXL = CREATEOBJECT("Excel.Application")

oXLSheet is the variable used to reference Microsoft Excel worksheet objects, created with one of the following commands:


   oXLSheet = CREATEOBJECT("Excel.Sheet")

-or-



   oXLSheet = oXL.ActiveSheet

oXLBooks is the variable used to reference Microsoft Excel Workbooks Collection objects, created with the following command:


   oXLBooks = oXL.Workbooks

oXLWkBook is the variable used to reference Microsoft Excel workbook objects, created with the following command:


   oXLWkBook = oXL.ActiveWorkBook

Directory/File Management Statements


Add Method (Microsoft Excel)

   Syntax:

   oXLBooks.Add([cTemplate])
   oXLSheet.Add([cBefore [, cAfter [,nCount [, nType]]]])
   oXLSheet.Add([oBefore [, oAfter [,nCount [, nType]]]])

Cells Method (Microsoft Excel)

   Syntax:

   oXL.Cells([nRowIndex [, nColumnIndex]])
   oXLSheet.Cells([nRowIndex [, nColumnIndex]])

ChDir Method (Microsoft Word)

   Syntax:

   oWord.ChDir(cPath)

   Example:

   oWord.ChDir("C:\MY DOCUMENTS")

Close Method (Microsoft Excel)

   Syntax:

   oXLBooks.Close()
   oXLWkBook.Close([lSaveChanges [, cFileName [, lRouteWorkbook]]])

FileClose Method (Microsoft Word)

   Syntax:

   oWord.FileClose([nSave])

FileCloseAll Method (Microsoft Word)

   Syntax:

   oWord.FileCloseAll([nSave])

FileNew Method (Microsoft Word)

   Syntax:

   oWord.FileNew([cTemplate [, nNewTemplate]])

   Example:

   oWord.FileNew("C:\MY DOCUMENTS\MYTEMPLATE.DOT")

FileNewDefault Method (Microsoft Word)

   Syntax:

   oWord.FileNewDefault()

FileOpen Method (Microsoft Word)

   Syntax:

   oWord.FileOpen(cName [, nConfirmConversions [, nReadOnly ;
      [, nAddToMru [, cPasswordDoc [, cPasswordDot [, nRevert ;
      [, cWritePasswordDoc [, cWritePasswordDot]]]]]]]])

   Example:

   oWord.FileOpen("C:\MY DOCUMENTS\MYWORD.DOC")

Open Method (Microsoft Excel)

   Syntax:

   oXLBooks.Open(cFileName [, nUpdateLinks [, lReadOnly [, nFormat ;
      [, cPassword [, cWriteResPassword [, lIgnoreReadOnlyRecommended ;
      [, nOrigin [, cDelimiter [, lEditable [, lNotify ;
      [, nConverter]]]]]]]]]]])

   Example:

   oXLBooks.Open("C:\MY DOCUMENTS\MYSHEET.XLS")

Value Property (Microsoft Excel)

   Syntax:

   object.Value = NewValue

   Example:

   oXL.ActiveWindow.ActiveCell.Value = "Hello"

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbinterop kbAutomation kbVFp300 kbVFp500 kbVFp600
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Issue type : kbhowto